PLUS: COURT NEWS; Trial Will Settle Who Owns Homer No. 73

One year to the day after Barry Bonds hit his record 73rd home run, two fans locked in a lawsuit over ownership of the ball will head to trial.

A San Francisco court commissioner said yesterday that the trial to decide who owns No. 73 will start Oct. 7.

After Bonds launched the ball into a crowd on the right-field porch at Pacific Bell Park, Alex Popov got a glove on it but lost it after other fans pounced on him. Popov, a health-food restaurateur from Berkeley, Calif., sued Patrick Hayashi, who ended up plucking the ball from the scrum.

Hayashi says the ball is his because Popov never really caught it. In November, a judge ruled that the ball, which could be worth more than $1 million, should be kept in a safe deposit box until a trial. Yesterday, San Francisco's superior court commissioner, Arlene Borick, set the October date and also ruled that the dispute was not appropriate for arbitration.